If she’s not careful, Duchess Kate will just work her little fingers to the bone! Haha. No, just kidding. Kate did something nice for one of her (few) charities, and Kate’s press office dutifully pushed a press release about it. What was the “nice” thing? Kate “managed to donate a baby hamper” for a charity auction for EACH (East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices). It’s nice. It’s not, like, the most groundbreaking and amazing charitable gift anyone has ever offered, but that’s fine. My problem is not that Kate donated something nice for a charity. My problem is with how the press and the band of royal sycophants treats her nice deed.

Kate Middleton hasn’t had an easy pregnancy, but she knows other parents have it far worse. And as a mother-to-be herself, she wants to help.

After announcing on Dec. 3 that she and husband Prince William, both 30, were expecting their first child, the Duchess quietly reached out to East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH), a charity that offers assistance for the loved ones of young people with serious, life-threatening diseases. (Her Royal Highness became a patron of the organization in January 2011.)

Despite being hospitalized at the time with hyperemesis gravidarum — a rare condition that can cause severe morning sickness, weight loss, dehydration, and fainting — Middleton managed to donate a baby hamper for EACH’s annual charity auction. According to the foundation’s website, EACH needs to raise more than 5.75 million pounds in public donations to deliver its services.

“EACH is invaluable to hundreds of families. In the past year there has been an unprecedented amount of care and support delivered to children and young people with life-threatening illnesses, and their families,” the mom-to-be says in a statement on the auction’s page online.

“I have been fortunate enough to meet some of those who have been supported by EACH, and seen firsthand the positive impact this organization has on their lives,” she continues. “For both families accessing care, and those who have been bereaved, EACH is a lifeline at an unimaginably difficult time.”

The pregnant Duchess has her own lifelines in her husband and in the couple’s families, who supported her through her recent illness and hospitalization.

Since returning home in early December, the first-time mom-to-be has been taking it relatively easy. On Christmas day, she and William skipped Queen Elizabeth’s annual gathering at Sandringham in favor of a more low-key celebration with Middleton’s parents and siblings in Bucklebury. They later joined the royal family for the traditional Boxing Day festivities on Dec. 26.

I’m sure there will be a lot of bids and the hamper will probably bring in a lot of money, and more people will become aware of the charity auction, which is a great thing. This made me wonder though… I wonder how much baby stuff is being sent to Will & Kate these days? Kate has always made it a priority that she doesn’t accept freebies or discounts, but I do wonder if they aren’t making an exception for all of the free baby stuff they’re getting from companies who want the newborn prince or princess to be seen wearing their products. It would be interesting if Kate and Will decide to donate all of that stuff too.

Two more stories for you… one, The Mail says that the Queen is making it clear that Will and Kate will have their own little (“little”) cottage on her Sandringham estate – you can see photos of “the cottage” here. It looks very much like an eight-bedroom mansion to me, but sure, a “cottage”. The cottage is called Anmer Hall, and it’s part of the Queen’s extensive Sandringham estate, which means that Will and Kate will have absolutely no excuse to NOT come to Sandringham for future Christmases. So this will probably be one of Kate and Will’s many “country estates” outside of London. Word is that the Queen and/or Charles will be getting them a Scottish estate too.

And the other story – Kate’s parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, are being criticized yet again for seeming to “profit” from their royal connection. The Middleton company, Party Pieces, is currently selling “Little Princess” and “Little Prince” birthday party supplies and kits. Eh. It doesn’t offend me because… Party Pieces has always sold tacky knickknacks which often have some kind of royal flair. The Middletons profit from their daughter’s marriage in many, many ways, and in this particular case, I think people are making a mountain out of a molehill.

54 Responses to “Duchess Kate donated a baby hamper for one of her charity’s annual auctions”

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I usually don’t post on Kate posts but this one is ridiculous. I know this site loves her but is a post about a hamper really necessary? If it was 100 that would be something but I’m baffled why donating just one is so newsworthy.

It’s a nice gesture and I hope it will fetch them more money. Even the smallest things done by her get so much recognition and this just shows that if she really tries to help her charities she can do so much more. Whenever I read stories like this I think so much potential is being wasted by William and Kate, they are in an extraordinary position and can do wonders with their charities and causes but they choose not to. If she can go up and down the country, attend parties, diners, award shows why can’t she visit one of 4 charities for a hour or so? I just don’t get it, it will get her positive press and will raise the profile of the charity too it’s a win win situation. I would really stop criticising them if they start contributing to their charities with regular visits, speeches, spreading awareness etc. if she doesn’t want to work full time then she can make sure most of her engagements are related to her causes rather then movie premiers or sporting events but that is not the case with these two.

You forgot to cover the story where William hired a man to pick his clothes, drive him around and do his other chores, all paid by us tax payers through ministry of defence. Don’t you just love a normal man hiring help to pick out his clothes even though he barely does royal duties and is close to losing his pilot l licence because he is not even doing his RAF job, all paid by ministry of defence i.e by us hater jealous people who should just shut up and be grateful for how normal he is. While his brother Harry wrote a letter to a girl on her birthday , he is serving with her father who was also in Afghanistan but of course media choose to ignore this story or the one in telegraph where the person in charge of Harry’s personal charity gave an interview about him expanding his charity to 4 more African countries and him e mailing and working with them from Afghanistan. Please cover these stories for those who think all he does is drink and party.

The article also said that he did it because he borrows one of Charles’ valets when he needs one. Now, as all William ever wears to appointments is a blue suit, white shirt, tie, and black shoes, I’m wondering what he needs a valet for. Must be to pick out the tie. Or tie his bow tie if he has to wear his tuxedo.

E is Patron of the hospital that operated on her back as a child and so far she’s actively raised funds herself for their fundraising drive, has visited the hospital several times including that cute visit etc

B is patron of the teenage cancer trust amongst other charities and she actively raises funds for them. No wonder EACH said her appointment as their patron had made no difference to them.

H is patron of his own charity Sentebele and various charities that help military, particularly wounded military for which he doesn’t just raise funds but actively raises awareness on a regular basis.

What does Kate do for a charity? She sends a baby basket. The hamper is so basic and so shoddily wrapped it’s hard to imagine it came from a royal.

No wonder EACH said Kate’s appointment as their patron had not made any difference to them either in donations or awareness.

Amen Eugenie just graduated collage last year, don’t take anything from tax payers, knows that she will have no public role as a royal and yet she is patron of more charities then Kate (e is Parton of 6 charities) and she visits them regularly, gives interview, participate in races and events to raise money, spread awareness and she is 23 compared to 31 old saint Kate.

Can’t quite get with the B&E love, but I do love Harry more. That letter he sent was a lovely gesture. And from Afghanistan! I remember when Kate sent a note to a child she met on an appt. It was typed and she just signed her name.

Blue hare,
I done love York princesses but I think media and people in general are very negative about them because of their parents. Despite the mess Andrew and Sarah are their daughters have never ever done anything ever to embarrass rf something cannot be said forWilliam or Kate or Harry. Plus the lack of passion and dedication towards charity from w&k makes me like Eugenie more then them, she is as I said has done more charitable work, is patron of 6 charities, she takes nothing from tax payers and knows she doesn’t have a public role as a royal and yet she does charity work because she wants to. People go out of their way to make excuses for a31 year old woman while a23 years old girl is doing more then her and yet she is criticised for absolutely nothing. I like her more compared to William and Kate.

Angelic, yes I know lots of people really like Bea and Eug, and I know Kate was a raging bitch to Bea at least once, and I bet their awful outfits at the wedding were to make a point. Especially the toilet seat hat, which if I recall correctly earned a ton of money for charity when she put it up on eBay. Good for her for that one.

Sarah’s an idiot, but it’s their dad I can’t stand. Arrogant, teenage boinking prick. But then, they all are, aren’t they (the arrogant and prick parts, not the teenage boinking!).

Could it be that they want “the people” to know what happened with the publicized gift of a very generous, very luxurious, very expensive baby hamper from a Beverly Hills baby store? The same store that also immediately on the baby announcemet sent Kim K a $1000.00 store voucher.

A better donation would have been a lunch with Kate. Now THAT would have had some takers. She could have had it at a restaurant, not necessarily at one of her homes, and could have specified the number of guests allowed.

Someone who knows royal protocol better than me can let me know if that sort of thing is allowed in their circle.

yes they can and they did with st Andrews dinner gala people paid money to have a drink with them before dinner and sat at there table during dinner. It also happened before their wedding where a royal(it was not disclosed exactly who) had dinner with a person who paid some thousand pounds for it at the hotel Kate was staying.

bluhare – I’d have bid on that lunch and pushed till I won it – just so I can count how many times she moves her hand in all the obviously non-casual hand positions meant to place the ring front and center so that me and whoever else is around can see it and be dazzled by it.

It was not nice of her. What would have been nice and noteworthy and even charitable if she was indeed going for charitable and not some fuzzy wuzzy do gooder PR crap to pull over the eyes of the masses – she woulda sent 100 hampers that looked like they were actually useful and not full of stuffing under whatever god awful looking teddy bear is in that thing in the photo – 100 hampers to be given to new mothers that need help. I’m sure there are at least 100 mothers out there working double shifts or two jobs just to make ends meet and diapers are expensive y’all.

Gosh some of you will believe anything this woman’s PR team puts out.

Let’s just agree once and for all – K does not have a charitable bone in her body. We’d have seen it by now.

Somebody would have said something or had photos or documentation or evidence of her generousity – 11 years and counting and there’s nothing to speak of but a baby hamper and a bbq in the woods with some kids.

Oh babykaos. To be fair she didn’t have to donate anything, but she (or her team) did and it will bring attention to a charity. Again, it is the bare minimum she’s doing.

What i personally thought they’d do with these gifts they would never use is donate them to needy families with newborns. To hear only 1 out of many items is being put to good use is upsetting. They can’t actually use these items without it looking like an endorsement, correct? So why not make it into a big scene and donate the lot?

As far as the bbq with the kids… didn’t she meet with them for under an hour and then had a private lunch away from them?

Its as you said – she isn’t doing it .. its the PR team and also as you said bare minimum .. and to add to your very astute assessment – everything that is done in this regard – IE meant to boost her charitable profile – is an after-thought.

See you and I would think to put all those gifts to good use – especially considering that there is some type of restriction on accepting gifts from businesses (or so they would have us believe – I mean who really looks into that and verefies they didn’t actually use the gifts or returned them or gifted them or did whatever with them) but I am positive that there is no restriction – redirecting the gifts received to charities and informing said businesses – to gift in her name for example and she will match it – I mean come on – put your money where your mouth is – don’t give the charity your discarded/unwanted/not posh enough hamper to the charity and then expect people to gobble it up like you were Jesus on the cross.

Thanks babykaos The thing about Kate is she is smart, but only when she wants something. I place blame with will here. She only wants him and for him to keep her around. If he did more charity work and truly cared for people in need I believe she would do more to please him.

Fear not though. This story book romance will end poorly and i don’t for 1 second believe William gave up his cheating ways with all the time he spends away from her.

I was appalled to learn from Wendy Berry’s book (Charles’ ex housekeeper) that not only do they keep stuff, but also store a lot of it, and when it gets to be too much, BURN it. They do not bother to donate it. Bunch of lazy, grasping wastrels.

Don’t get me wrong… I’m glad that Kate donated a hamper… basket? Whatever. I’m sure it will make a bit of money for the charity, but not nearly as much as a more personal gift would. As mentioned above, maybe a lunch with Kate… or even a quick meet and greet. But hey, a donation is a donation.

Seems to me, with something like this it might be best NOT to feed it to the press… do it without trying to get credit for it. Word-of-mouth will bring attention anyway, so the charity still receives publicity. Let’s be honest, the hamper-thing is not exactly a grand donation, which is fine, but not really worthy of that ridiculous article which talks more about Kate and how sick she is than it does about the charity. They make it sound like she donated a kidney… or at the very least, she crawled over broken glass, while suffering from HG, a very rare form of morning sickness… to personally pick out a blanket and stuffed bear, which she then packaged herself (after crawling back over the broken glass, of course) in her very own bathroom, while simultaneously puking her guts out.

The palace is probably grasping at straws with this press release, trying to find something positive to spin after the bad reports by staff of the pompous, entitled, selfish actions William displayed when he was forced to go to Sandringham after Christmas with the Middletons.

I really want to comment but I just don’t know what to say. So, when you don’t know what to say, you shouldn’t say anything.

D*mn. They are pathetic.

Oops. Did I just say something? When I said I wouldn’t?

Okay. Let me redeem myself by saying something positive. Do, do, do, do . . . do, do, do, do . . . Okay. I got. I hope the donated item, undoubtably handpicked and agonized over by the Duchess of Cambridge **cough** will fetch enough money to . . . to . . . cover some fortunate baby’s bottom in nappies/diapers for a well over year.

The Duchess of Cambridge, albeit sick and struggling with her own pregancy, opened the New Year with not her own ills on her mind but the dis-ease of others. Her charity and charitable contributions are without peer.

You know . . . everyday strangers who you pass on the street while you are out to-ing and fro-ing do more in terms of charity than C/W by simply opening doors for other person, by pushing an elevator button for other riders, by donating clothes to the Goodwill, or even by giving a stranger a light from their cigarette. Once again,they are pathetic.

When you compare the Duchess to other members of the Royal Family – she is seriously under-performing. Before everyone jumps down my throat – she is unwell, she was told to take it easy cutting her teeth as a Royal, etc – Stop.

This is just another example of the Duchess doing the absolute bare minimum expect of her. However, given the position she is in as the wife of the future King of England – I find this unacceptable. She has a unique platform to help people in the capacity that others, such as myself, wish we ourselves could.

Sure, this was a charitable gesture. HOWEVER. She has the opportunity to do more than one hamper.